Copy and paste this worksheet as a separate page linked to the Homepage of your portfolio. DO NOT type your answers on THIS document because it needs to be used by other students. The title of your page which replies to these questions is linked to your portfolio and should begin with the first initials of your first and last name. (In my case, the link to this worksheet from my portfolio page would read frbfeworksheet.)
You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them on time (no later than Friday, August, 25). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0. You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points, if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of BFE. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?”
- Setting is uncertain, but it is literally "Bum Fuck Nowhere", as obviously what the author intended. Most likely in Midwest, Arizona, Utah, etc. There is desert and many UFO sightings, and it is the place of many odd, sometimes dangerous things. The time frame is the late nineties. The main character also speaks directly to the audience about her story, though we are unsure where she is when she is telling it. Panny is fourteen and Asian-American. She lives with her Uncle, Lefty, and her mom, Isabel.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
- Panny tries to call Nancy, and instead ends up talking to a college boy, Hugo. This breaks the stasis rather than other events because if Panny had never talked to Hugo, the story wouldn't exist. He was the reason she went to Walgreen's, and subs sequentially the reason she is abducted rather than Nancy. He is the first successful relationship she can have with the outside, yet it is the one that leads her directly into danger.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place? - For whatever reason, this is when Panny decides to tell the audience what happened to her.'
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.) - What happens to Panny? What happens to Lefty? What happens to Isabel? What does the man abducting girls have to do with the story?
5. Use Panny, Isabelle, or Lefty to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for one of the three designated characters.
- Me against Indivividual: Panny wants to be seen as pretty and to continue her life, but she is abducted by a man
- Me against myself: Panny wants to be pretty, but doesn’t see herself ever being that way
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. In your estimation what is the most theatrical moment in BFEand what happens during that moment which is so important to the outcome of the play?
- The most theatrical moment is when Panny gets abducted. She is taken out to the desert and forced to kiss him. She imagines gashing his eyes out and running away. But in reality, she tries but doesn’t succeed. Instead it only makes him madder. He beats her, carving “Ugly” into her skin. This is so important because it has such an effect on the story. Panny’s worst insecurity is literally on her skin now. This event is the final straw in her attempts to build relationships and extend herself past her own home. She and the rest of the family will recluse themselves from the world and remain in their house instead, having had no success outside it.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in BFE. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
Blue eyes and Blonde hair: This image comes up several times via Hae-Yoon and the man who kidnaps girls. It represents an idea that all Americans look this way, and that this is the only desirable look.
Telephone: Pany’s most successful relationship – besides her family – was the one with Hugo over the phone. In the last scene after everything has happened, the phone rings and she doesn’t pick it up, symbolizing her giving up on the outside world.
Self-help books: Both Evvie and Lefty encounter self-help books, suggesting the idea that all the characters in BFE need a little self-help
The title is very modern and blunt, so it makes sense that the images within the play would also be modern and blunt.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in BFE
- American idealization, family, loneliness, insecurities, beauty, teenagers, friendship, crime, mystery, perversion, isolation,
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with BFE? Is family redefined in BFE and if so, in what ways?
- In BFE, family is seen as almost a confining element. It seems to hold the characters back, most obviously with Lefty. And yet, when the main character’s relationships with the outside seem to fail, it is the family that they come back to. The play ends on the same three it began with, no more or no less. So in some words, BFE’s portrayal of family is something you’re stuck with, for better or for worse.
Copy and paste this worksheet as a separate page linked to the Homepage of your portfolio. DO NOT type your answers on THIS document because it needs to be used by other students. The title of your page which replies to these questions is linked to your portfolio and should begin with the first initials of your first and last name. (In my case, the link to this worksheet from my portfolio page would read frbfeworksheet.)
You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them on time (no later than Friday, August, 25). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0.
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points, if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of BFE. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?”
- Setting is uncertain, but it is literally "Bum Fuck Nowhere", as obviously what the author intended. Most likely in Midwest, Arizona, Utah, etc. There is desert and many UFO sightings, and it is the place of many odd, sometimes dangerous things. The time frame is the late nineties. The main character also speaks directly to the audience about her story, though we are unsure where she is when she is telling it. Panny is fourteen and Asian-American. She lives with her Uncle, Lefty, and her mom, Isabel.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
- Panny tries to call Nancy, and instead ends up talking to a college boy, Hugo. This breaks the stasis rather than other events because if Panny had never talked to Hugo, the story wouldn't exist. He was the reason she went to Walgreen's, and subs sequentially the reason she is abducted rather than Nancy. He is the first successful relationship she can have with the outside, yet it is the one that leads her directly into danger.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
- For whatever reason, this is when Panny decides to tell the audience what happened to her.'
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
- What happens to Panny? What happens to Lefty? What happens to Isabel? What does the man abducting girls have to do with the story?
5. Use Panny, Isabelle, or Lefty to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for one of the three designated characters.
- Me against Indivividual: Panny wants to be seen as pretty and to continue her life, but she is abducted by a man
- Me against myself: Panny wants to be pretty, but doesn’t see herself ever being that way
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. In your estimation what is the most theatrical moment in BFEand what happens during that moment which is so important to the outcome of the play?
- The most theatrical moment is when Panny gets abducted. She is taken out to the desert and forced to kiss him. She imagines gashing his eyes out and running away. But in reality, she tries but doesn’t succeed. Instead it only makes him madder. He beats her, carving “Ugly” into her skin. This is so important because it has such an effect on the story. Panny’s worst insecurity is literally on her skin now. This event is the final straw in her attempts to build relationships and extend herself past her own home. She and the rest of the family will recluse themselves from the world and remain in their house instead, having had no success outside it.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in BFE. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in BFE
- American idealization, family, loneliness, insecurities, beauty, teenagers, friendship, crime, mystery, perversion, isolation,
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with BFE? Is family redefined in BFE and if so, in what ways?
- In BFE, family is seen as almost a confining element. It seems to hold the characters back, most obviously with Lefty. And yet, when the main character’s relationships with the outside seem to fail, it is the family that they come back to. The play ends on the same three it began with, no more or no less. So in some words, BFE’s portrayal of family is something you’re stuck with, for better or for worse.